Laura J. Fox is the Douglas M. Costle Chair in Environmental Law and Director of the Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic (FAAC). As an experienced litigator and teacher working to advance farmed animal interests in the law, Prof. Fox works and trains students to protect farmed animals from the industrialized practices of factory farms, including by reducing extreme confinement practices and challenging their environmental, social, and public health impacts. In this pursuit, a significant aspect of her work involves filing complaints with federal and state agencies, litigating issues arising under various federal statutes, and bringing consumer protection, tort, and other matters at the state level. The student attorneys in FAAC have the opportunity to engage in this work under her close supervision.

Prof. Fox regularly presents her work at conferences and in various media outlets. Presentation topics include environmental, public health, and other societal harms of extreme farmed animal confinement; strategic litigation for protecting farmed animals and human health; animal law in changing federal administrations; the intertwined suffering of pigs and people; and discussions on specific legal challenges.

Prior to joining VLGS, Prof. Fox was a Senior Staff Attorney focused on farmed animal protection at the Humane Society of the United States in its Animal Protection Law department. In addition to her practice, Prof. Fox served as a Visiting Fellow with the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law and Policy Program at Harvard Law School, was an Adjunct Professor of Animal Law at George Mason University’s school of law, has taught courses in philosophy and ethics at Northern Virginia Community College, and teaches Climate Change, Extinction and Adaptation in the Vermont Law School Online Learning Program. Prof. Fox graduated from Vermont Law School with a J.D. and Master of Environmental Law and Policy and holds a master’s in philosophy from George Mason University, where she also earned her B.A. in philosophy.